“There is no benefit when music stands secret and hidden.” — Lucian

Few names can be said to truly challenge the connection of the name Sappho with the notion of poetry. The only woman between the nine canonical lyric poets, Sappho’s fame was such, that she was often crowned with the epithet The Poetess. A great honor indeed, since the masculine The Poet was used to refer to Homer himself.

Sappho’s poetry was so renowned and beloved, that Solon, the lawgiver of Athens, is rumored to have said, “Teach me a song of Sappho, so that I may learn it and die.” But although she was a prolific composer, very little of her poetry has reached our time. Her celebration of love and her worship of the goddess Aphrodite have, since antiquity, been a subject of debate, especially in the context of the love between women. Her influence is such that the terms pertaining to that love, sapphic and lesbian, are direct references to her name and her home island of Lesbos, respectively.

This is a curated selection of poems & verses from the great lyric poetess to add to your lyre repertoire.

Song list: Ode to Aphrodite ✦ Peer to Gods ✦ The Midnight Poem ✦ Queen Hera ✦ Cyprus-Born ✦ Nightingale ✦ Descend ✦ Irana ✦ Immortality ✦ The Tithonus Poem ✦ If not, Winter

“This Sheet Music Book is our latest addition to our effort to enrich the available educational resources for lyre and lyre-like musical instruments,” Nikolaos Koumartzis, the series’ director, explains.

This book is part of the Lyre Sheet Music series, which features some of the greatest lyre players around the world, including Lina Palera, Thanasis Kleopas, Michael Levy, and Theodore Koumartzis.

Pages: 48 | Dimensions: 9 x 12 inches | sheet music for lyres or kitharas with 7 or more strings

_Credits
Nikolaos Koumartzis, D.Phil. (editor-in-chief)
Fotis Giantsios, M.Litt. (research director)
Lina Palera (composer)